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UK-based finance, production and sales outfit Evolutionary Films has closed a slew of deals on two of the titles on its slate.
Music documentary Looking For Lennon has sold to North America (SP Releasing), China (Lemon Tree), Italy (Koch Media), Brazil (Globosat), Spain (Vertice) and Poland (Against Gravity). Garry Popper is producing the film which is being directed by Roger Appleton.

The company is also looking to ramp up its UK distribution activities one year after it launched its releasing arm. Looking For Lennon and Vengeance will be released in April and May, respectively, as the company aims to release a film every week in the UK through the end of the year.

As passionate and visionary artists, Molecule 8 is setting new standards in craftsmanship with its commitment to life-like imagery and the highest quality production. The company will incorporate the singer-songwriter’s likeness in a global, limited edition collectible figure represented in sixth scale (12 inches). The John Lennon Figure will be available April 2018.
“The John Lennon Molecule 8 figures highlight a delicate balance of creativity, quality and artistry,” said Lisa Streff, EVP of Global Licensing at Epic Rights. “The team at Molecule 8 are well known for creating figures of the highest quality that are eagerly sought by collectors and fans.”
“We are honoured to have been approved by Yoko Ono and Epic Rights to develop a line of distinct premium collectibles under the John Lennon brand,” said Vijay Chadha, CEO of Molecule 8. “In addition to the sixth scale figure of Mr. Lennon, our team is developing a unique assortment of pieces that will speak to the genius, character, and passions that defined John Lennon, both as an artist and as a man.”

About Epic Rights
Epic Rights is a leading music industry artist services company representing many top artists and providing a broad scope of services, including: retail and brand licensing, official artist ecommerce shops, VIP ticketing, official fan communities, and concert merchandising.
Epic Rights is headquartered in West Hollywood, California. For more information, visit: www.epicrights.com.

About Molecule8
Molecule8 was formed in 2015 with a passionate vision to deliver the most life like, visually engaging and advanced collectible products in the world. Its leading team of artists specialize in the production, marketing and distribution of museum-grade licensed collectibles. With locations in London, Tokyo, Los Angeles and Hong Kong, its global business presence offers extensive experience working with multinational brands across a broad spectrum of the entertainment industry and beyond.
For further inquiries, please contact info@molecule8.com and visit Molecule8.com Follow Molecule8 on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

The younger sister of Yoko Ono today revealed how John Lennon encouraged her to take art seriously.

Setsuko Ono, 76, who paints and creates dream-like sculptures from sheets of welded steel, is to have an exhibition of her work in London for the first time.
She had previously worked in development at the World Bank in Washington DC for 28 years, only pursuing art as a hobby.
She said: “John came with my sister and the little boy [Sean] to my house and of course there I was just displaying everything, and he just said, ‘Well, you should really take seriously your passion for sculpture’. And that I took really as a wonderful compliment,” she said.
On retirement in 2003, over two decades after Lennon’s death, she tried for her first public exhibition at the Eighth Havana Biennial.
The show will run at Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation at Japan House from Thursday and at Asia House next month.source:standard.co.uk

The California DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) has commenced the pre-sale to put the iconic self-portrait image of John Lennon on California license plates which will help fund the state’s food banks. The special license plate features the famous John Lennon self-portrait image and the slogan, “IMAGINE no hunger.” Proceeds from sales will be administered by the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) and distributed to the California Association of Food Banks (CAFB) to be utilized throughout the state of California for food bank programs.
The John Lennon self-portrait image provides a powerful symbol of his humanitarian legacy, raising awareness to the need to address hunger in our state and providing an image that will promote significant funding to help end hunger in California.The plates are available for pre-order, for both automobiles and motorcycles: http://CaliforniaImagine.com/.

The Imagine license plate launch brings together CDSS with its longtime hunger-fighting ally, CAFB, a membership organization representing 41 food banks throughout the state that collectively provide food to 6,000 community-based organizations and to 2 million Californians in need.
“Each license plate is another reminder that food insecurity is an everyday challenge for children and families across our state,” says Todd Bland, Deputy Director of the Family Engagement and Empowerment Division with the California Department of Social Services (www.cdss.ca.gov). “This new license plate option allows people to financially support a supply of healthy food for hungry Californians.””We are thrilled with this opportunity,” said Sue Sigler, Executive Director of California Association of Food Banks (www.cafoodbanks.org). “The Imagine license plate offers an opportunity for Californians to say ‘hit the road’ to hunger in our state.”The Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) will begin the process of creating the program to issue the “Imagine No Hunger” license plates upon receipt of 7,500 pre-paid applications.
“Every person driving behind someone with an Imagine license plate will know that person is leading the way to a California absent from hunger,” states Mark Lowry, Director, CAPOC’s Orange County Food Bank (www.capoc.org).
“These Imagine license plates will bring vital awareness to a critical problem in our state and will raise funds to provide nutritious food for those in our community facing food insecurity,” says Michael Flood, President and CEO of the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank (www.lafoodbank.org). “Everyone who purchases one of these plates will have committed to the fight against hunger in California.”
Yoko Ono Lennon has kindly authorized the use of the iconic self-portrait image to help the CAFB in their ongoing fight to end hunger in California. “Imagine is a great word to spread around and I was happy to do this because it is helping a very important charity.”

The John Lennon Educational Tour Bus, the premier non-profit 501(c)(3) state-of-the-art mobile production facility that provides hands-on experiences for students of all ages, presented by Other World Computing (OWC), makes its return to The 2018 NAMM Show at the Anaheim Convention Center with special guests Bootsy Collins, legendary bass player, and Andy Grammer, multi-platinum recording artist. Kicking off at NAMM, and chock full of new gear and equipment, the Lennon Bus will stop in cities across America throughout the year including Sacramento, Texas, Chicago, New York, Atlanta, Miami and many more.

“Kicking off the tour at NAMM has become somewhat of a staple in the Lennon Bus legacy. We feel more connected to the crowd each year, and the energy at NAMM gives us the motivation and drive needed to get on the road to inspire young people across the U.S.,” said Co-Founder and Executive Director Brian Rothschild. “With the involvement of OWC, Bootsy Collins and Andy Grammer, this NAMM Show will be one to remember.”

Throughout The 2018 NAMM Show, the Lennon Bus will be parked on the central Grand Plaza in front of the Anaheim Convention Center. The Lennon Bus will offer trade show attendees interactive tours and will showcase the updated display of state-of-the-art equipment and gear, advanced recording technology, and innovative capabilities with products provided by OWC – the official presenting sponsor of the 2018 Lennon Bus Tour.

Highlights include:

Saturday, January 27 from 6:00 -7:30 p.m., Collins will host the annual John Lennon Educational Tour Bus Imagine Party featuring a performance from Grammer. In addition to hosting, Collins will take the stage with local Anaheim students to perform “Together We Can,” a song he first recorded on the Lennon Bus in New York City.

Saturday, January 27 at 11 a.m., Collins will host the Funk Off. at OWC Booth 11802. Open to anyone, Collins will judge contestant’s bass skills. The top five finalists will take home OWC gear and move on to the finals, which will take place live on stage at the Imagine Party. The winner, picked by Collins, will win his signed Yamaha bass guitar and an OWC package.

Thursday, January 25 – Sunday, January 28, attendees will be able to win free, limited-edition OWC / Lennon Bus T-shirts with an onsite game at OWC Booth 11802.

Launch events include the annual Imagine Party with the NAMM Foundation hosted by Bootsy Collins with a performance by multi-platinum artist, Andy Grammer

This year, the Lennon Bus will be premiering many new features. The Lennon Bus studios and the demo tent will be powered by the new Apple iMac Pro with additional 5K displays providing an expansive monitoring system for editing ultra-high definition video and photography. OWC’s innovative products provide the bus with fast, dependable and silent storage solutions. Musicians onboard the Lennon Bus will now get to pair Yamaha electric guitars with Yamaha guitar amps including the THR10C combo and the THR100H dual head with the THRC212 cabinet. The Yamaha MX61BU will be the new featured synth keyboard in the demo tent and all support products are now provided by K&M Stands.

A new feature in the Lennon Bus demo tent is the Creator’s Station. In this space, visitors can participate in an interactive experience using an Apple iPad Pro, Audio-Technica’s iOS-compatible AT2020USBi microphone, and ATH-M50x headphones. During select events throughout the year, visitors can participate in a project entitled “What does peace mean to you?” by recording their unique answer in the Creator’s Station. The audio, photos, and b-roll captured for this activation, from students of all ages across the country, will lay the foundation for an original short film.

Paul Goresh, who famously snapped the only photo of John Lennon with his killer — one of the last pictures of John — has died. He was 58.

Goresh, from North Arlington, N.J., had been sick for some time, his cousin Rosanne Taylor wrote on a John Lennon Facebook fan page that he maintained. She confirmed his death to the Daily News on the phone Tuesday. Goresh died Jan. 9, she said.

“It is with much sadness and a heavy heart that I need to let you know of Paul’s passing. Paul had been sick for awhile . . . We spoke every few days and he was touched by the outpouring of love and good wishes that were sent to him,” she wrote.

“Every one of you touched his life in a unique and special way, and he wanted me to let you know that that meant the world to him,” she added. Taylor said Goresh had requested that no service be held for his death and the family is honoring his wishes. “Everyone knows his love of The Beatles and especially John. I hope they are together and happy now,” she wrote.

Goresh was forever haunted by the photo he took on Dec. 8, 1980 outside the Dakota apartment building at Central Park West and 72nd St. on the Upper West Side.

An amateur photographer, Goresh, then 21, was outside waiting for John — who lived there with Yoko Ono and their 5-year-old son Sean — to exit. Alongside him was a pudgy young man named M.D.Chapman, who said he was also a major Lennon fan. When John came out, Goresh got his shot — a tight focus on the ex-Beatle signing the “Double Fantasy” album that Chapman had been carrying. Chapman, then 25, hangs in the background, slightly out of focus but in the shot. Five hours later, John would be dead — fatally shot by the eager fan who so desperately wanted his album signed. When Goresh learned what happened, he realized he likely had an undeveloped picture of Lennon’s killer in his camera.He tried to give it to police, but after the third time they hung up on him, he realized they weren’t interested.

In a 2015 interview with NJ.com, Goresh credited a sergeant in North Arlington for urging him to get in touch with the New York newspapers. The sergeant called the Daily News for Goresh, and the newspaper sent out a limo for him and his undeveloped film, according to NJ.com.

The News paid $10,000 for the picture of John with his killer — the only one in existence, and one of the last photos of the rock star alive. John’s widow would later ask for 19 other images of her husband on Goresh’s film, which were used in a documentary about his life.

Goresh told NJ.com he has always regretted not realizing something was off about Chapman, who is serving a life sentence at Wende Correctional Facility in upstate Alden and is scheduled for his 10th parole hearing this August.

“Nobody picked up any sign of (Chapman) being a danger,” he said. “He looked like the kid that got picked on in the school playground. He looks like if you blew on him he would have fallen over. If you cracked him in the jaw he would get knocked out. There was nothing to the guy.” Goresh kept the Minolta XG1 he used to take his famous picture. He told NJ.com that he’d known John casually — mostly by showing up to take pictures of the ex-Beatle outside his Manhattan home. “But John Lennon was as decent a person as I’ve ever met,” Goresh told the online site. “He treated me wonderful. He never bothered anybody and he wanted to be left alone. He was just very down to earth and he liked regular people more than the beautiful people.”source:NYDailyNews